Ever wonder what happens to the trash you put out at the end of your driveway? This time In The Dirt, Mack and Rich talk trash and the heavy equipment you find handling it. Diving into medium size wheel loaders in waste applications, Rich explains the various configurations of wheel loaders, how Caterpillar designs these machines, and even shares stories from his time spent in the field with customers.

If you have any questions for Rich Knudson, find him on LinkedIn or reach out to your local Cat dealer to inquire about heavy equipment for waste applications.

This time In The Dirt, Luke Sheppard and Mack talk heavy equipment dealerships. Everything from training and customer focus, growing the business, to improving internal processes with the 5 S principle.

Luke brings a wealth of knowledge to the show, his career featured time with John Deere, TigerCat, and Nortraxx, just to name a few. He now owns a consulting company focused on helping heavy equipment dealers improve and grow their business. Luke is also the author of Driving Great Results, a book all about how to run a great business.

Check out Luke's website to learn more https://www.drivinggreatresults.com/#/ or find Luke on LinkedIn at Luke Sheppard

Ever wondered how pipelines are built? This time In The Dirt Mack sits down with Derek Birdwell of Kirby Smith Machinery to talk everything pipeline construction. Pipelines are vital links for the transportation of valuable oil & gas resources between mine sites and export or refinery terminals, on this episode you will learn about the start to finish process of building a pipeline, insights into custom pieces of equipment used for constructing pipelines, and other hot topics in the pipeline industry. Derek draws upon 10 years experience working in the industry, he now works with Kirby Smith Machinery, one of the top heavy equipment suppliers for the pipeline construction industry in North America.
 
 If you have any questions, please reach out to our guest Derek Birdwell on LinkedIn or Instagram, or find Kirby Smith Machinery's website here https://www.kirby-smith.com/

After winning in Edmonton Canada, Clayton North Carolina, and Las Vegas Nevada during Caterpillar's Global Operator Challenge, Jaus Neigum took home the title of #1 heavy equipment operator in the world! This time In The Dirt Jaus and Mack sit down to discuss his journey from Medicine Hat Alberta to winning Caterpillar's Global Operator Challenge in Las Vegas Nevada at ConExpo 2020.  Up against competitors from around the world, Jaus and fellow Canadian competitors competed through a series of heavy equipment operation challenges to see who is in fact the best operator in the world. If you like dirt, heavy equipment, and want to see behind the scenes of the Global Operator Challenge, this episode is worth a listen!
 
Follow Jaus Neigum on Instagram and LinkedIn, or follow his company on Instagram @industrialbackhoe

This time In The Dirt I interview Spencer Brooks of Hawkzone Contracting. Based out of Marble Bar Australia, he is a young man with an incredible story of starting and growing a mining contracting business in efforts to save the family cattle farming business and buy out a business partner on the Australian rich list, all while fighting Crohn's disease. Spencer has incredible insights into how he faced and continues to face the challenges of growing a business. If you are a business owner or in a management position, this episode will definitely be of value to listen to!

If you have questions for Spencer, reach out to him on LinkedIn under Spencer Brooks or find him on instagram under @hawkzonecontracting

With many manufacturer's incorporating technology into new equipment, and modern day job sites seeing great benefit from the deployment of technology. Eric and myself put together an episode to discuss a few of the many technology options available for the earthmoving industry.

I interview Eric about the early days of his career with his own excavating company all the way through to where he is at now with SITECH South. Eric and I discuss 2D/3D machine control, payload for mining and quarry customers, surveying & drones, and a few success stories from customers of SITECH adopting technology in their business.

If you have any questions for our guest, Eric. Find him on LinkedIn at Eric Herron, or on Instagram @dig_it_digital_gps

This time In The Dirt Robert Kennedy and myself talk about cycle times in a production environment. Join us for a discussion centred around dirt and heavy equipment as we discuss the most common problems found throughout a production loading cycle, proper selection of ground engaging tools for production loading, and effective training solutions.

If you would like to learn more about Robert and his company, GET Solutions. Check out their website https://getsolutionsinc.com/

This time on In The Dirt I interview Kevin Goldberg, founder and president of SoilFLO, a software that is redefining how companies track the movement of dirt on and off the jobsite. We discuss the Toronto earthmoving market, who SoilFLO is and what they do, and get into exactly what the SoilFLO software does and how it is helping earthmoving companies grow. If you like technology and construction, have a listen!

Check out www.soilflo.com to learn more about SoilFLO

GPS Machine Control is changing the way companies move dirt in the modern day. Join Joe Bradley and myself In The Dirt as we discuss Topcon GPS machine control, the evolution of GPS machine control, how it is saving companies time and money, and Brandt's new Topcon equipped 3D automatic excavator. If you like dirt, heavy equipment, or construction, this episode is worth a listen.

To learn more about Brandt's Topcon Machine Control offerings visit https://www.brandt.ca/Divisions/Positioning-Technology

Undercarriage is a huge part of owning heavy equipment. On this episode I talk to Rick Smith, aftermarket product manager of undercarriage with Finning Canada. We dive into the undercarriage world discussing the biggest factors for wear and failure on undercarriage, how companies can extend the life of their undercarriage, and a brief history of how far undercarriage design has come since inception.

To learn more about undercarriage for Cat equipment, check out Finning's website https://www.finning.com/en_CA.html